{"product_id":"pondlife-by-al-alvarez-9781408841020","title":"Pondlife","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Savage God\u003c\/i\u003e, a unique memoir of growing old, and a lesson in not going gently into that good night\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe ponds of Hampstead Heath are small oases; fragments of wild nature nestled in the heart of north-west London. For the best part of his life, Al Alvarez – poet, critic, novelist, rock-climber and poker player – has swum in them almost daily.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAn athlete in his youth, Alvarez chronicles what it is to grow old with humour and fierce honesty – from his relentlessly nagging ankle which makes daily life a struggle, to infuriating bureaucratic battles with the council to keep his disabled person’s Blue Badge, the devastating effects of a stroke, and the salvation he finds in the three Ss – Swimming, Sex and Sleep.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs Alvarez swims in the ponds, he considers how it feels when you begin to miss that person you used to be – to miss yourself. Swimming is his own private form of protest against the onslaught of time; proof to others, and himself, that he’s not yet beaten.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBy turns funny, poetic and indignant, \u003ci\u003ePondlife\u003c\/i\u003e is a meditation on love, the importance of life’s small pleasures and, above all, a lesson in not going gently into that good night.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'A beautiful unfolding of a story, told in deceptively simple prose but with a great power to move' \u003cstrong\u003e\u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'The adrenalin still flows in lively extracts' \u003cstrong\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'A marvellous book... it has no business to be as invigorating and absorbing – its success is against the odds' \u003cstrong\u003e\u003ci\u003eObserver\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46845538926828,"sku":"9781408841020","price":24.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/16520893482689.jpg?v=1758884817","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/pondlife-by-al-alvarez-9781408841020","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}